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Fatherly Advice

Take a walk down memory lane. You could catalogue all of the times your dad gave you advice. You could also catalogue all of the times he gave you advice and you didn’t listen. For me the latter was the most prominent, as I always knew what was best. I even knew the best way to do things; better than my dad. Which is why I want to pay homage to Dad with these three tidbits of fatherly advice I should have listened to. Oh man….hindsight really is 20/20.

1. Credit Cards: Yourright, Dad. You do have to pay them back.

2. Cars: Regular oil changes….who knew?

3. Work: Hard work pays off. It’s hard not to ignore this mowing the lawn or doing chores.

DAD’S LIKE DEALS

We have a pretty sweet deal for your Dad this Father’s Day and a pretty sweet deal for you. Pick up a BOOMBOT2 and get 20 bucks off!

To Guarantee Father’s Day Delivery (June 15th) Order by these dates:

Thursday 6/12 before 4pm PST – Standard (2-Day) Delivery

Friday 6/13 before 4pm PST – Overnight Shipping

You’ve grown up a bunch and now you probably like the same music. It’s weird how that happens! So the next time you’re sharing a brewski with Pop’s you will be serenaded by the sweet sounds he’s most accustomed to.Thank God for Polaroids, am I right?

HIS FINEST MOMENTS

Our memories sometimes fail and luckily technology is there to help us regale in the most incriminating photos. For Dad, there is no such thing as “too ridiculous” or “over-the-top”, that’s why we’re asking our friends on the intertubular webs to show off their goofiest photos of Dad on Instagram!

That said, you send us the goods, we’ll deliver the goods. Check the prizes and contest info below!

Cycle taps the technology resources of a user’s smartphone to make for a better ride

Here’s something you don’t get to write every day — check out this e-bike from Croatia!

The cycle you see above is the Visiobike, and what makes it so cover-worthy is not that it’s a nifty-looking e-bike, but rather the fact that this nifty-looking e-bike hooks up to one’s smartphone, allowing the rider to use the unique combination of the two to do things like unlock the bike, track one’s speed, or check to see what’s behind the rider using the cycle’s built-in rear camera.

Now, having the smartphone cradle on the bike’s handlebars obviously impedes on the space allotted for our Bluetooth portable speaker holder, but I suppose we can make a bit of room for this awesome piece of technology.

The Visobike hooks up to the phone via Bluetooth technology, and it’s compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Along with the aforementioned functions, the phone can also display a GPS map of the rider’s surrounding area, and any sort of fitness tracking program it’s running will see the data sent to a cloud for review later on.

There’s also automatic accident reporting and emergency alert if the Visiobike detects any sort of impact. As far as security, the bike comes equipped with GPS tracking and a motion sensor, so its owner knows its whereabouts at all times.

The sporty looking, mountain bike-esque Visiobike has a carbon fiber body, enormous 180mm/160mm hydraulic disc brakes, and a SR Suntour fork. Altogether, the thing weighs, 46.3 pounds, which might be a lot for some, but remember – it is an ebike. There are two versions available, with two different motors: one provides 250W and the other 500W of power, with top speed being either 15.5 mph or 31.1 mph.

Worth noting: the bike doesn’t drive itself. Rather, it’s a pedelec, so the rider needs only to get on and start pedaling like they would with any normal bike. Once they start going up a hill, the motor kicks in, and it feels pretty much the same.

Visiobike’s lithium-ion, 14.5Ah battery lasts for around 62 miles. After it’s been depleted, the rider will need to plug the bike into an outlet, whereupon it’ll recharge in about three hours.

The Visiobike team just launched a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo, with the goal of raising $245,178. Those interested in owning the bike can get the basic version with the weaker motor for $5,318. The better model (automatic transmission and rear camera included) will cost $6,749.

There are options to overcome this issue, of course. You can keep the phone plugged in all the time. But then you have extra wires involved, which kind of defeats the purpose of using a speaker that’s Bluetooth capable. Plus, the power’s draining while it’s simultaneously being juiced up, which causes unnecessary wear and tear on the device’s battery.

Your best bet is to unplug the phone or tablet and let it charge a bit. But today’s devices take well over an hour to get to a full charge, and no one wants to be without their music playing for that long. That’s what makes technologies like PLX Devices’ Legion Meter so great—the tiny USB dongle actually helps the user charge their smart phone 92% faster than today’s standard plug-in approach.

Along with “safely accelerating your smartphone/tablet’s charging speed up to 92%,” the Legion Meter also has a built-in multimeter to show the user different details about the device, including current power, milliwatt hours, and voltage.

“The charge accelerator circuit has two modes of operation,” the company explains on their Kickstarter page. “Apple mode and Android mode. The user selectable mode dynamically converts any USB port to optimize the charge speed by signaling your mobile device to safely draw the maximum amount of charge possible. The PLX Charge Accelerator circuit is patent pending.”

Best of all, the Legion Meter is affordable. Those interested can purchase one through the Kickstarter page for $49 (shipping out October 2014). To learn more, check out the clip below:

Connected cycle helps riders keep their eyes on the road

If you’ve ever biked a longer distance, then you know the headache that comes with trying to figure out directions beforehand.

Either you’ve got to memorize the name of every road and turn, or you’re constantly pulling off on the side of the road to check the map on your phone.

A new “smart” bike on Kickstarter seeks to put an end to this frustration. Referred to as the Vanhawks Valour, this connected cycle has 11 days to go on the web funding site and has already achieved its funding goal five times over.

The reason why everyone’s throwing money at it is because it’s a pretty damn cool product. Basically, the bike connects to one’s smartphone via mobile app (iOS and Android) / Bluetooth technology, and sends GPS directions directly to the rider’s handlebars, using LEDs to indicate which road to go down. The reason behind this technology? To keep the rider’s eyes on the road, especially during high-traffic commute times.

The bike can be pre-ordered via Kickstarter for $1,049. That’s the single fixed-gear though – if you want the multi-speed unit, you’ll need to pony up $1,199. Both models are expected to be ready for shipping out in November (just in time for the holiday season).

Also worth noting is that as the bike app becomes familiar with roads and areas traversed, it becomes smarter; that is, it learns where to avoid potholes and suggest safer routes. The bike also includes haptic feedback in the handle bar grips, so when an object is entering a blind spot, the rider is alerted.

Lastly, the Valour app can also act like a fitness wristband tracker, keeping score of your riding progress by monitoring and logging your activity, including things like distance traveled, time spent riding, and calories burned. The data is sent to a corresponding app where riders can analyze later on and set goals accordingly.

Concept device stimulates the auditory and visual senses

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing, the spherical speaker features a unique design which allows the user to see the actual sound waves of the music as it’s being played.

Made of a cubic wooden box, rubber wires in each of the eight corners suspend the speaker in the center. The wires are attached along the diagonals, meaning the speaker — made of either metal or ceramic — gets bounced around by the force of the sound waves generated by the music, thereby giving the user the ability to actually see the sound.

Virtruvio comes with an auxiliary in-feed, so just about all devices on the market can wire up to it. Right now, though, the speaker’s still in its concept stages, so it won’t be on the market any time soon. Those in the NYC area can check it out later this month at Wanted Design’s Launch Pad.

It’s a cool concept, and certainly a better presentation of sound waves than corn starch vibrating at 30 Hz: